Wednesday, 18 May 2011
Armenian, Belarusian Prime Ministers Discuss Ways of Upgrading Bilateral Relations
Today the Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan-led government delegation arrived in the Republic of Belarus on a two-day official visit. At the airport of Minsk the Armenian delegation was met by Prime Minister Mikhail Myasnikovich. After the national anthems of the two countries had been played, the heads of government greeted the guard of honor and introduced the members of the official delegations. Following the ceremony, T. Sargsyan and M. Myasnikovich headed to the House of Government for private talks.
“Visits of official delegations from a friendly country are significant events for us,” Mikhail Myasnikovich pointed out during the meeting with Tigran Sargsyan while imparting his warm impressions from last year's visit to Armenia. He expressed hope that T. Sargsyan’s present visit might help upgrade bilateral relationship in the economic, political, cultural and other spheres.
Stressing that the two countries can boast good traditions of economic intercourse with a 16-fold increase in trade turnover as stated for the last 10 years, Mikhail Myasnikovich dwelt on the fields of primary interest in terms of bilateral cooperation.
He evoked a number of research and engineering projects standing long on the bilateral agenda. Noting that Armenia is among the importers of Belarusian pharmaceutical products, Mikhail Myasnikovich suggested building up joint capacities to get access to third-country markets.
Mikhail Myasnikovich expressed hope that the documents due to be signed today might expand the legal framework applicable between the two countries to the benefit of cooperation.
Thanking him for a warm welcome, Tigran Sargsyan expressed confidence that the past arrangements would be carried out with success.
According to the Prime Minister of Armenia, the two sides should strive to identify new areas of mutually advantageous cooperation. Tigran Sargsyan made a highlight of agriculture which is among his government’s priorities. In particular, he stressed the need for upgrading the existing stock of agricultural machinery and passenger buses with the help of Belarusian companies necessitating the provision of corresponding services.
In search of new areas of cooperation, Tigran Sargsyan introduced the project of the North-South Speedway, as well as some other infrastructure-related projects. Armenia was said to be prepared to look at the possibility of cooperation with Belarus in this sphere as well.
Either the pharmaceutical industry can offer good opportunities for cooperation considering that Armenia has the needed capacities, including the chemical ones. The Belarusian know-how may come of service to our country in this respect.
The following spheres were next singled out as prospective areas cooperation: seed-breeding, diamond processing, research and development.
According to Tigran Sargsyan, the ongoing high-level political dialog is urging the two governments to make a better use of the existing potentialities.
The prime ministers’ private talks were followed by the plenary meeting of the two delegations. A series of documents are tabled for signing.
